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Schakowsky, Doggett Lead Colleagues in Letter Supporting TRIPS waivers for COVID-19 Therapeutics and Diagnostics

February 6, 2024

Full Text of Letter (PDF)

WASHINGTON U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky (IL-09), Ranking Member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee Subcommittee on Innovation, Data, and Commerce, and U.S. Representative Lloyd Doggett (TX-37), Ranking Member of the House Ways and Means Committee Subcommittee on Health, led lawmakers in a letter to United States Trade Ambassador Katherine Tai, urging her to support Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) waivers related to COVID-19 therapeutics and diagnostics at the World Trade Organization (WTO).

“The SARS-CoV-2 virus remains a leading cause of infection and death worldwide, with developing countries still suffering from a lack of access to not just vaccines, but also affordable tests and treatments. As a result, ‘test and treat’ strategies designed to prevent the worst outcomes of COVID-19 are only widely available in rich nations,” wrote the lawmakers. “The lack of access to therapeutics and diagnostics is a key factor driving the transmission of COVID-19 in developing countries – transmission that drives the resurgence of new variants of COVID-19 that threaten not only the citizens of these countries but those of all nations, including our own, whose vaccines can be made obsolete if COVID-19 is allowed to run amok in other parts of the world.”

The lawmakers thanked President Joe Biden and U.S. Trade Representative Tai for their previous support of TRIPS waivers related to COVID-19 vaccines. They emphasized that similar waivers for therapies and diagnostics have the support of over 100 other countries but have been blocked by a small cohort of wealthy nations.

Further, the lawmakers highlighted that TRIPS waivers would be utilized by developing countries that have already demonstrated an inability to afford brand-name treatments and tests and would therefore not harm the bottom lines of U.S. manufacturers, despite fearmongering tactics used by Big Pharma.

“It is imperative that we continue to prioritize global collaboration in the face of this global crisis, for the health and well-being of those in developing nations, and in our own,” concluded the lawmakers.

Also signing the letter were U.S. Representatives Rosa DeLauro (CT-03) and Jesús “Chuy” García (IL-04).

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